Goodbye Accra!

So the time has come to leave our home in Accra and embark on our journey North. What a great time we had here helping out at two great organisations, West Africa AIDS Foundation, Esoko and Theatre for a Change, meeting so many interesting and inspiring people, forming lifelong friendships, and enjoying the chaotic rhythms of Ghana's capital city.

Now, we will head to the second largest city of Ghana and the capital of the Ashanti kingdom, Kumasi. Then we will head northwest to Wa. From Wa, we are intending on crossing the border into Burkina Faso (within a week from today) through the town of Leo.

Next time,
M&T

Photos - Ethiopia

Finally managed to get through all the photos we took over the last two and a half weeks in Ethiopia, so here's the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20110110Ethiopia#5560653745815263042

Happy new year!

M&T

Photos - Our new abode

Hello everyone... just posted some photos of our new place. We're now staying at my boss's place with 7 other housemates, some birds, fish AND... a table tennis table! How could I not love the place :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20101128AsylumDownHouse#5544614859124176386

Hope everyone's well back home, Kwame & Abena

Photos - Cape Coast

Visited Cape Coast and Elmina castle on the long weekend. Both castles were at the center of the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas which saw between 15-25 million slaves taken from their home countries under inhumane conditions. For those interested in some more history you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Slave_Trade

And here's the link to our photos... http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20101114CapeCoast#5542292555540655858

Ghana music 2

We were in for a treat last night. At the closing night of a music festival at Alliance Francaise, we enjoyed the smooth beats of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen. He was supported by a couple of rappers/singers from Guinea called Degg J Force 3:
http://www.deggjforce3.com/

Abena

So sweet...

So here's a quick wrap of my morning today... got up, checked my emails and the news, then did a quick workout in the house gym, which is essentially just a bench press and some dumbbells. Walked out of the gym and decided to ask one of the other guys in the house if they're keen on a game of table tennis. Turns out the reigning number two 'house champion' is always up for the challenge so we played a game in the morning sun, which to my surprise I won (bring on the house champion!!). Then I quickly jumped into the shower before firing up Skype to talk to Sylvia and my two little nephews - well, mainly I talked to Sylvia, while Jaden frantically waived his hands at the camera (which was highly entertaining) and Robin, well, not quite sure what he was doing... crawling around the floor mainly, and wondering why his mum was lifting him up to the glary screen every now and then. Once we had finished the conversation I had run out of time for breakfast and since we just moved into the new place we don't really have any supplies yet anyway. So what to do... well, this is where Ghana really shines: Walked around the corner on my way to work and discovered a lady pressing fresh oranges by the roadside, so I stopped by and had a glass of fresh orange juice in shade of the almond tree. Then I continued on along the road and bumped into a lady carrying pawpaw on her head. Being everything but poor poor, I bought one. Continued along and bumped into another lady selling beautiful golden bananas of which I bought a couple. I could have purchased a pineapple and watermelon from two other ladies, but declined the offer. Passed my coconut vendor in front of my office and told him that I had already had some orange juice but promised to come by in the afternoon. Walked into the office and prepared myself a fruit salad. So now I'm sitting here happy as a dog with two tails, thinking Ghana's got to be the best place in he world!

Photos - Wli Waterfalls in the Volta Region

Went on an excursion this weekend to the Wli Waterfalls in the Volta region. It's a beautiful region with lush green vegetation, wild bananas, papayas and pineapples and friendly locals in the most serene and tranquil corner of Ghana. Click on the link below to see the photos...

http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20101107VoltaRegionWliWaterfalls#5537071308013944802

Photos - Life in Accra

About time for another round of photos. This time a somewhat random collection of pictures we took over the last couple of weeks. Enjoy...

http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/Test#5534320852343026674

Ghana Talk

Walking around the streets of our neighbourhood in Labadi most people like to greet us.

“Hello”, “Good afternoon, how are you? I’m fine”, “Where are you going?”, “white lady/man”, “give me one cedi” are some of things we hear.

Kids chase us for several yards calling out “obruni obruni obruni”. They also walk with us for a few meters (or for as long as we let them) holding our hands and, if given the chance, they hug us. The adulation is a little disconcerting at first and you wonder why they treat us so. Is it what they see on TV? My supervisor’s explanation sounded a little obscure: Jesus is depicted as a white man and so, by virtue of skin colour, all white (and relatively white) people are blessed.

The men are also somewhat friendlier than back home. “I love you” shouts a stonemason I pass every morning. I wave politely and shout back a “thank you”. My reserved Western upbringing somehow prevents me from returning his affections. The following week, he accepts my daily walk past his shop as a positive sign and our relationship moves up a level, “marry me”, he shouts. Again, I wave politely but this time reply, “no thank you”. My objection made no difference; since his proposal, his morning greetings have been “My wife, how are you?”

Abena

Another tro tro story

“Please” the lorry station master indicated to the last remaining seat. I hesitated for a moment: the half bent seat was already occupied by another man but apparently if I squeezed myself in it was worthy of a full fare. The seat at the back of the van was bent in such a way that I could fall out the backdoor at any moment. The station master reassured me by showing me a small latch that held the door to the rest of the car.

It’s amazing how quickly your standards drop when you adapt to your environment. I jumped into the van wrapping my fingers around the seat beside me for security. I prayed that someone would disembark soon so I could claim their seat before we got to the highway where the driver would accelerate to 100km/hr.

Ten minutes into the journey, the sky turned black and the wind picked up. A storm was brewing but it didn’t take long before the clouds broke loose and torrential rain came down. The wind and rain beat the van ferociously as the passengers on board struggled to close the windows. The door barely shielded me from the rain and the roof started to leak. The kind man I was plastered next to pulled out his rain jacket and covered my legs. Another gentleman tried to hold up the carpeting on the ceiling of the van to stop it from leaking on me. I smiled with gratitude trying to take no notice of a leak behind me that was travelling down my back and into my underwear.

But getting wet was the last of my worries. My eyes were fixed at the driver who skillfully carried on with NO WIPERS and, what I imagined to be, semi-functional brakes. Mind you, activating the wipers would have been a perfunctory gesture in the torrent. With slippery and flooded roads to navigate; potholes to negotiate; open gutters to avoid; (By His Grace) the driver miraculously managed to arrive at the destination with his cargo intact.

Abena